Beautiful Vocations Video from the St. Joseph Province Dominicans

Leaving All Things Behind from Province of Saint Joseph on Vimeo.

CLICK HERE FOR THE DOMINICAN VOCATIONS BLOG

"Three Franciscans make final Profession in Perth"

From The Record
By Anthony Barich

PHOTO: The Sisters embrace each other for the Sign of Peace during their Profession Mass after being crowned with Christ’s crown of thorns during their Profession Mass, symbolising being the eternal spouse of Christ. Photo: Monica Defendi

THREE Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculata made their final Solemn Profession on 22 February to live a life of sacrifice in poverty, chastity and obedience, with a unique extra vow of unlimited consecration to Mary, who is ‘The Immaculate’.

Srs Maria Regina, 41, Maria Jacinta, 30 (Philippines) and Nigerian Maria Teresina, 34, made their final Solemn Profession before Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and their Order’s co-founder Fr Gabriel Pellettieri on the feast of the Chair of St Peter.

Sr Marie Antoniette, 33, also Filipino, renewed her vows the same day.

Despite having a deep relationship with Jesus since childhood – “when I was alone, I was not lonely” – Sr Maria Regina never imagined she would be a nun. It all changed when the calling she had resisted for so long became so strong she could no longer concentrate on her work in human resources at the Daily News, Cebu’s major daily newspaper in the Philippines.

When she was 33 – “the same age Jesus died that I might live, the birth of my Religious life” – she entered the Immaculata.

“I resisted as I was very attached to a job I loved, I had a loving family I didn’t want to leave, but it was like a force within me. I felt restless with a deep longing and only if I responded to it would I be at peace,” she told The Record last week.

At the time she had no idea what Religious life was like, she just knew it was serving God. A year of aspirancy and postulancy in Manila followed, then a one-year novitiate before she made her temporary Profession, when she was sent to Italy to complete her studies, before arriving at the Sisters’ St Joseph Convent in Marangaroo last year, located adjacent to an aged care centre.

“I’m very happy I’ve found my home. It really is my calling – what God wants of me. It’s like a treasure I’ve found. It keeps the peace in your heart when you just trust God,” she said.

“In the Religious life, we are privileged, because through the mouth of our Superior comes the will of God. They are God’s representatives. For us Franciscans of the Immaculata, we know this is also the will of Mary, as her will is so conformed to God’s will.”

The Sisters rise at 4.45am for prayer until breakfast at 8am, then they prepare for 9.30am Mass and bring the people from the nursing home to Mass as well.

The Sisters are then on a rotation between chores in their convent and their apostolate of pastoral care in the nursing home before and after lunch at 12.45pm.

Their daily siesta from 2-3pm is preceded by adoration before the Blessed Sacrament twice a week, followed by Vespers; some pray the Rosary while others simultaneously do their apostolate.

The nuns aim to pray at least the four Mysteries of the Rosary daily – Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious – but Sr Maria Regina said they pray as many as they possibly can, even during chores, as “the more Rosaries you pray, the more souls you get into Heaven”.

While she says Religious life is “beautiful”, it is “not the absence of crosses”. They become easier when they carry their cross with Jesus and Mary.

“Religious life is a life of sacrifice, a life of reparation – we follow in the footsteps of St Francis who loved poverty and followed in the steps of Jesus in His poverty and humility,” she said.
It is a life of mortification and penance, but “when you do it for the love of God, knowing you can save many souls, not only your own but others’, and for the conversion of sinners, then it’s worth doing”, she said.

This way of bearing daily crosses for the sake of the Kingdom is not unique to Religious life, she said – it applies to married life too, so long as Jesus is put at the centre of one’s life, “with Mary as queen of the home”.

“The frame of mind (in Religious life) is obedience. When you’re in the world, you do what you want to do, but in Religious life you follow the will of Another; you give up your will for the love of God – which is probably the hardest thing for many,” she said.

Living by Providence, she said, is accepting what you’re given, including food – unless there’s a serious medial reason not to. The point is, they own nothing; everything, including their habits, are given for their use.

There are at least three Australian-born nuns with the Immaculata, plus one aspirant from Sydney. “Hopefully there will be more,” Sr Maria Regina said.

Solemn Profession of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Kansas City

Kansas Catholic has FANTASTIC pictures of the Solemn Profession of Vows of the

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles.

Click on Kansas Catholic above to see all of the pictures, and make sure to see all four parts.

Below are just of few of the incredible photos...

"10 Episcopal nuns in Archdiocese of Baltimore to join Catholic Church"

From the Catholic Review

By George P. Matysek Jr.

View beautiful slideshow about the sisters HERE.

After seven years of prayer and discernment, a community of Episcopal nuns and their chaplain will be received into the Roman Catholic Church during a Sept. 3 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien.

The archbishop will welcome 10 sisters from the Society of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor when he administers the sacrament of confirmation and the sisters renew their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the chapel of their Catonsville convent.

Episcopal Father Warren Tanghe will also be received into the church and is discerning the possibility of becoming a Catholic priest.

Mother Christina Christie, superior of the religious community, said the sisters are “very excited” about joining the Catholic Church and have been closely studying the church’s teachings for years. Two Episcopal nuns who have decided not to become Catholic will continue to live and minister alongside their soon-to-be Catholic sisters. Members of the community range in age from 59 to 94.

“For us, this is a journey of confirmation,” Mother Christina said. “We felt God was leading us in this direction for a long time.”

Wearing full habits with black veils and white wimples that cover their heads, the sisters have been a visible beacon of hope in Catonsville for decades.

The American branch of a society founded in England, the All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor came to Baltimore in 1872 and have been at their current location since 1917.

In addition to devoting their lives to a rigorous daily prayer regimen, the sisters offer religious retreats, visit people in hospice care and maintain a Scriptorium where they design religious cards to inspire others in the faith.

Throughout their history, the sisters worked with the poor of Baltimore as part of their charism of hospitality. Some of that work has included reaching out to children with special needs and ministering to AIDS patients. Together with Mount Calvary Church, an Episcopal parish in Baltimore, the sisters co-founded a hospice called the Joseph Richey House in 1987.

Orthodoxy and unity were key reasons the sisters were attracted to the Catholic faith. Many of them were troubled by the Episcopal Church’s approval of women’s ordination, the ordination of a gay bishop and what they regarded as lax stances on moral issues.

“We kept thinking we could help by being a witness for orthodoxy,” said Sister Mary Joan Walker, the community’s archivist.

Mother Christina said that effort “was not as helpful as we had hoped it would be.”

“People who did not know us looked at us as if we were in agreement with what had been going on (in the Episcopal Church),” she said. “By staying put and not doing anything, we were sending a message which was not correct.”

Before deciding to enter the Catholic Church, the sisters had explored Episcopal splinter groups and other Christian denominations. Mother Christina noted that the sisters had independently contemplated joining the Catholic Church without the others knowing. When they found out that most of them were considering the same move, they took it as a sign from God and reached out to Archbishop O’Brien.

“This is very much the work of the Holy Spirit,” Mother Christina said.

The sisters acknowledged it hasn’t been easy leaving the Episcopal Church, for which they expressed great affection. Some of their friends have been hurt by their pending departure, they said.

“Some feel we are abandoning the fight to maintain orthodoxy,” said Sister Emily Ann Lindsey. “We’re not. We’re doing it in another realm right now.”

The sisters have spent much of the past year studying the documents of the Second Vatican Council. They said there were few theological stumbling blocks to entering the church, although some had initial difficulty with the concept of papal infallibility.

In addition to worshipping in the Latin rite, the sisters have received permission from the archbishop to attend Mass celebrated in the Anglican-use rite – a liturgy that adapts many of the prayers from the Episcopal tradition. Mother Christina said 10 archdiocesan priests, including Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden, have stepped forward to learn how to celebrate the Anglican-use Mass.

The sisters expressed deep affection for Pope Benedict XVI. The pope exercises an authority that Episcopal leaders do not, they said. The unity that Christ called for can be found in the Catholic Church under the leadership of the pope, they said.

“Unity is right in the midst of all this,” said Sister Catherine Grace Bowen. “That is the main thrust.”

The sisters noted with a laugh that their love for the pope is evident in the name they chose for their recently adopted cat, “Benedict XVII” – a feline friend they lovingly call “His Furyness.”

Click here to read how the Episcopal sisters hope to form ‘diocesan institute.’

Click here to see a slide show of the All Saints' Sisters of the Poor.

"Religious Life in the Movies"

The following is the text from the Archdiocese of Washington blog, written by Msgr. Charles Pope about the above clip:

"This is a clip I posted at Gloria.tv from the 1958 Movie, “The Nun’s Story” starring Audrey Hepburn as a young woman named Gabriel Vandermal who becomes Sr. Luke of a fictional French Women’s Order. The movie, as you shall is stunningly beautiful and the liturgical scenes are carefully done. This movie is available for purchase at Amazon.com and I recommend it to your library. However the following should be noted. The movie presents a rather negative portrait of Religious Life by emphasizing its hardships and demands to the exclusion of its joys and benefits. It more than suggests that many aspects of Religious Life at that time were unreasonable and unnecessarily harsh. Perhaps they were at times. Some older Sisters I’ve talked with tell me that many aspects of this movie are accurate and things were tough in the old days. Still, the movie surely has a strong point of view that could have been more balanced. Further, Sr. Luke makes a decision in the movie that is problematic from the point of view of the vows she made. Nevertheless, with these cautions I strongly recommend the movie. It is beautiful, though controversial in some aspects. I post the clip here in the interest of seeing a brief look at Religious life in the wider culture and in the movies. Enjoy this beautiful video."

"The other vocation crisis - marriage"

From FaithMag.com

By the Most Reverend Earl A. Boyea, Bishop of Lansing

We have a vocation crisis in America. This is not what you think. It is a vocation crisis in marriage. Many are no longer getting married – and too many do not see their marriage as a sacrament, a means of grace for themselves and their families. Yet marriage and family are the natural heart of our society and the spiritual core of our church. Pope John Paul II stated in St. Louis in January 1999: “As the family goes, so goes the nation!”

Now, most of us know the solutions to this difficulty since we have seen very healthy marriages and thus know what they look like. I think of my own parents, who have been married for 58 years. They are not perfect. However, they do exhibit that fidelity, commitment and love which are the hallmarks of a good marriage.

Marriage is a communion of persons wherein new life is the fruit of love. The two purposes of marriage are the unitive (love of the couple) and procreative (blessings of children). Sexual expression is to be the deepest manifestation of these two purposes. Unfortunately, for the past 50 years, there has been growing not only a division between these two, but a chasm. It began with seeking to have marital relations without having children. Soon, however, sexual relations became completely separated from both love and children.
How do we get out of this mess? I would suggest five things.

First of all, we, married and single, need to know better who we are as created by God. Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body is vital to that process. Fundamentally, this means that we see ourselves as created in the image of the loving Trinity, where we really become human only in the total gift of ourselves, imitating the gift of Christ to us. The Trinity and the cross must be the center of every Christian’s life. This will give meaning to marriage, as well as to religious and priestly vocations.

Second, we need to counter the contraceptive mentality of our society, which has helped to create this gap between sexual activity, and love and children. The best way to do this is to promote Natural Family Planning. We know that commitment and companionship, based on hard work and dedication, are the solid bedrocks of a successful marriage. NFP supports this completely, and clearly invites into the marriage that one partner who is most needed: God. NFP is simple, satisfying and effective; and it engages the couple more completely in the family planning process. NFP does not change our bodily nature nor our bodily relationship; rather, it respects what is God-given.

Third, we need to recognize that marriage is good for us. Marriage “helps to overcome self-absorption, egoism, pursuit of one’s own pleasure, and to open oneself to the other, to mutual aid and to self-giving.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1609) Marriage also can teach us the equality of men and women and their clear differences and complementarity by working toward a loving unity.

Fourth, we need to recall that marriage is good for children. Children in intact families are more likely to be successful and less likely to experience a myriad of evils that surround us. The roles of mother and father and their healthy interactions are important for the development of boys and girls and show them the beauty of faithful and eternal love. This is the best gift that a husband and wife can give to their children.

Finally, we need to pray and to celebrate the sacraments. Praying as a family, and praying as a couple are vital. Recourse to reconciliation and the Eucharist are essential for ourselves and for assisting our spouse and our family on their journey to heaven. Jesus commanded us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Not doing so would mean that we would have no life in us. How can we share life, our life or any life, with our spouse or children if we do not have that life within us.

Marriage is essential for our society, for our church, and mostly for our salvation. Let us work and pray for the building of this great sacrament of service.

"Two men hope to become tools of God as Carmelites"

From The Catholic Sentinel
By Ed Langlois

Photo: Fr. Matthew Williams, Carmelite Provincial Superior, blesses newly professed Br. Mark Kissner, left and Br. Mark Silva. Sentinel photo by Gerry Lewin

MOUNT ANGEL — A former Silicon Valley executive and a former electrical engineer have made lifetime commitments to an ancient way of life that balances prayer, ministry, solitude and community.

Brothers Mark Silva and Mark Kissner professed solemn vows last month in the Discalced Carmelite Friars. St. Mary Church here was full for the rite, during which the men bound themselves to a tradition that reaches into the 13th century.

Brother Silva, 46, was a successful risk management chief for computer and insurance companies in California. But since high school, he had felt a tugging at his heart toward priesthood and religious life.

“I kept putting God on call waiting,” he says.

A native of Glendale, Ariz., he went to a Jesuit high school and then on to Santa Clara University where he studied finance. He landed jobs in Santa Clara and then San Jose and enjoyed the life of beach, mountains and friends.

He was happy, but something seemed inadequate. He felt God calling gently but doggedly. He consulted a vocations book, put the idea on hold for years once again, but then met with a vocations director.

During that session, a spiritual spigot turned on inside him and he articulated his heart’s desires. The priest knew enough to direct him to the Carmelites, whom he joined at age 39.

“I just really felt at home,” he says.

Superiors expected the usual struggles that men with established lives have when making the transition to religious community. But Brother Silva seemed beyond that.

The Carmelites’ primary ministry is prayer, but they serve in parishes, retreat houses, hospitals and prisons. Brother Silva is open to any of those.

“I hope I can be an instrument of God so he can use me to bring souls to him in a loving embrace,” he says. He’ll be known officially as Brother Mark of the Sacred Hearts.

Brother Kissner, to be called Brother Mark of of the Most Precious Blood, was a 30-year-old electrical engineer working in San Diego when he joined his parish’s group for young adults. He learned more about his faith and dated, hoping to be married and raise a family.

“Over time, through prayer and study, I grew more and more in love with Jesus Christ and His Church,” Brother Kissner writes in an e-mail interview. “I had also been influenced by several holy religious priests and nuns over those years. At some point during this period of deepening my faith, the idea of becoming a religious priest entered my mind.”

He struggled with the idea for years, because his vision for himself had always been as a husband and a father. But the more he tried to put the idea of religious life out of his mind, the worse he felt. He describes his decision to truly consider the life as “a surrender” that yielded much peace.

“God made the path to enter the Carmelites fairly easy after that,” writes Brother Kissner, a 42-year-old native of Dayton, Ohio and a graduate of Purdue University.

He read St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, 16th-century Carmelite mystics and leaders. They changed his life. He began attending Mass with some Carmelite nuns in San Diego. At age 35, he entered formation. Those who become Religious give people a witness that the Kingdom of God exists, Brother Kissner says, and show “that there is more to life than what you see, that there is a who God loves them.”

Carmelites look to the gospel story of Martha and Mary to seek a balance between service to the world and simply sitting at the feet of the Lord.

Carmelites have their roots in the 13th century, when a band of European men gathered on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. They wanted to help build up the Church through a simple life of prayer and witness to the Gospel.

It was on Mount Carmel that Elijah the prophet contemplated God in prayer. Carmelites look to him as a source of inspiration.

Among Carmelites, the spiritual writer St. Thérèse of Lisieux stands out for her ardent desire to “be love in the heart of the Church.” The young nun died in 1897 at age 24 and has a massive following.

In 1999, the Western Province of the U.S. Carmelites decided to establish its house of studies near Mount Angel Seminary.

Young Carmelites generally spend six months in provisional membership and then enter a year-long novitiate, a time to learn the ways of prayer and the basics of Carmelite life. Those early periods take place in San Jose, Calif.

Then come temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and about six years of study at Mount Angel. Permanent, or solemn, profession of vows follows. If the brother is to go on to become a priest, which most do, ordination comes after more study.

'Sponsa Christi' on Consecrated Virginity

Below is a post written by Sponsa Christi for this blog. I am very grateful to her for taking the time to share some thoughts about Consecrated Virginity, the Rite of Consecration (and pictures) and her life as a Consecrated Virgin. I pray that it will be of some assistance to those of you who may be discerning this vocation, and enlightening for those of you who know little about it. If you would like to know more visit the links on the sidebar for Consecrated Virgins. Please keep them all, and their witness in the world, in your prayers!

On January 3, 2009, to my great joy I was solemnly consecrated to a life of virginity in the Archdiocese of New York. That is, I as a virgin was wholly dedicated to God as a “spouse of Christ,” through my reception of an ancient Rite of Consecration by the authority of the local bishop.

Consecrated virginity is actually the oldest form of consecrated life in the Catholic Church, predating religious life by centuries. There are references to consecrated virgins in the Church during Apostolic times, and the central prayer of the Rite of Consecration has been traditionally ascribed to St. Matthew the Evangelist. Before it was historically possible for a woman to enter a religious Order and become a nun, she could offer her life to God as a consecrated virgin. Well-known consecrated virgins from the early Church include St. Agnes, St. Agatha, St. Cecilia, and St. Lucy.

With the rise of monasticism beginning in about the fourth century A.D., the practice of consecrating women living “in the world,” or outside of monasteries, gradually fell into disuse until it was formally discontinued around the year 1000. However, the rite was preserved by certain religious Orders, who continued to use the ritual for their solemnly professed nuns. Then in the later half of the twentieth century, with the decree of the second Vatican Council Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity was revised and the vocation of consecrated virginity in the world was reinstituted in the modern Church.

In my own life, I was twelve years old when I first felt called to dedicate my life exclusively to Christ. At the time, I assumed that I would eventually enter a convent and become a nun or a religious sister. But when at age eighteen I first began to visit various religious communities and discern my vocation more seriously, I started to sense that God was calling me to something other than religious life. This confused and upset me until several months later, when providentially I was able to read the Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity for Women Living in the World. Almost at once I knew that I had found my vocation, although it was not until this January, at age twenty-three, that I was able to receive consecration.

The Rite of Consecration always takes place within the context of a Mass. Because I live in a large archdiocese, for pastoral reasons my consecration was delegated to the auxiliary bishop who serves as the Episcopal Vicar for my county. The consecration Mass took place in the parish where the bishop is stationed, about a ten-minute drive from my home parish.

(Photo above) This is the very beginning of the entrance procession. I walked just behind the cross-bearer, followed by the two women whom the Rite of Consecration directs to accompany the candidate (almost like bridesmaids), then by the concelebrating priests and deacons, and finally by the consecrating bishop.

(Photo above) From the introductory rites through most of the Liturgy of the Word, the candidate is seated in the body of the Church. Then, after the Gospel, she is called by the bishop into the sanctuary—this is what constitutes a “vocation” in an official sense.

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(Photo above) After I was called, I entered the sanctuary as I made the liturgical response: “Now with all my heart I follow you, I reverence you and seek your presence. Lord, fulfill my hope; show me your loving kindness, the greatness of your mercy.”

Then I sat in the sanctuary while the bishop preached a homily on the nature and purpose of consecrated virginity.

After the homily, I stood before the bishop and affirmed that I was willing to accept my vocation with all its attendant responsibilities.

(Photo above) Following this, as I prepared to offer my life to God, I lay prostrate in the sanctuary while the Litany of the Saints was chanted.

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(Photo above) At the conclusion of the Litany, I knelt before the bishop and made a public declaration of my resolve to remain a virgin for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. The technical term for this is a propositum—which is similar, but not identical to, a promise or vow made in religious profession.

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(Photo above) Then, I knelt while the bishop prayed the ancient and beautiful consecratory prayer. This prayer is actually the effective element of the Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity; unlike religious profession, where a person is consecrated by the promises he or she actively makes, a virgin is consecrated through her passive reception of this solemn blessing and prayer of the Church. Because of this, there is no possibility of dispensation from a life of consecrated virginity.

(Photo above) After the consecratory prayer, I receive a veil, a ring, and a breviary. Here, I am receiving the Liturgy of the Hours, with the commission to pray.

(Photo above) After the Consecration Rites, I returned to my place in the sanctuary before the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The rest of the Mass continued as usual, but with the special additions to the Eucharistic prayer as indicated in the Sacramentary for a Mass of Consecration.

(Above photo) After the Consecration Mass, we had a simple (but big!) reception with my family and friends in the parish hall. Here, I am standing with three seminarian-friends whom I met in college (including, at the far right, Don Maloney from the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C.). All of them here served at the Mass.

In my new life as a consecrated virgin, I am called to spend my life in prayer and service to the Church. Presently, I am full-time graduate student studying for a Master’s degree in Catholic Theology. Eventually I hope to earn a doctorate in either Theology or Canon Law and teach at a university level—but as my main priority is serving the Church, I would be open to using my education in other, perhaps non-academic ways if the needs of the Church suggested this.

But more importantly, every day I attend Mass, pray the full Divine Office, and spend other time in personal prayer. My primary intention is for the needs of the bishops, clergy, and people of the Archdiocese of New York, though the Rite of Consecration also calls me to “pray without ceasing for the salvation of the world.”

"Father Cantalamessa's Address at Family Meeting"

Father Cantalamessa on What Marriage Needs: More Than a Defense, Sacrament Must Be Rediscovered

From ZENIT

MEXICO CITY, JAN. 22, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of an excerpt of the Jan. 14 address from Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household, at the 6th World Meeting of Families.

The World Meeting was held Jan. 14-18 in Mexico City.

Father Cantalamessa's address was titled "Family Relationships and Values According to the Bible." The full text of the address is available at ZENIT's Web page.

* * *

Christians' task of rediscovering and fully living the biblical ideal of marriage and family is no less important than defending it. In this way it can be proposed again to the world with facts, more so than with words.

Let's read today the account of the creation of man and woman in the light of the revelation of the Trinity. Under this light, the phrase: "God created mankind in his image, in his image he created him, male and female he created them" finally reveals its meaning, which was mysterious and uncertain before Christ. What relation could there be between being "in the image of God" and being "male and female?" The God of the Bible does not have sexual connotations; he is neither male nor female.

The similarity is this: God is love and love demands communion, interpersonal exchange; it needs to have an "I" and a "you." There is no love that is not love for someone. Where there is only one subject there can be no love, only egotism and narcissism. Where God is thought of as Law and as absolute Power, there is no need for a plurality of persons. (Power can be exercised alone!). The God revealed by Jesus Christ, being love, is one and only, but he is not solitary; he is one and triune. In him coexist unity and distinction: unity of nature, of will, of intention, and distinction of characteristics and persons.

Two people that love each other, and the case of man and woman in marriage is the strongest, reproduce something that happens in the Trinity. There two persons, the Father and the Son, loving each other, produce ("breathe") the Spirit that is the love the joins them. Someone once defined the Holy Spirit as the divine "Us," that is, not the "third person of the Trinity," but rather the first person plural.[1]

Precisely in this way the human couple is an image of God. Husband and wife are in effect a single flesh, a single heart, a single soul, even in the diversity of sex and personality. In the couple, unity and diversity reconcile themselves. The spouses face each other as an "I" and a "you", and face the rest of the world, beginning with their own children, as a "we," almost as if it was a single person, no longer singular but rather plural. "We," in other words, "your mother and I," "your father and I."

In light of this we discover the profound meaning of the prophets' message regarding human marriage, which is therefore a symbol and reflection of another love, God's love for his people. This doesn't involve overburdening a purely human reality with mystical meaning. It is not a question simply of symbolism; rather it involves revealing the true face and final purpose of the creation of man and woman: leaving one's own isolation and "egotism," opening up to the other, and through the temporal ecstasy of carnal union, elevating oneself to the desire for love and for happiness without end.

What's the reason for the incompleteness and dissatisfaction that sexual union leaves within and outside of marriage? Why does this impulse always fall over itself and why does this promise of infinity and eternity always end up disappointed? The ancients coined a phrase that paints this reality: "Post coitum animal triste": just like any other animal, man is sad after carnal union.

The pagan poet Lucretius left us a raw description of this frustration that accompanies each copulation, which should not be scandalous for us to hear at a congress for spouses and families:

"And mingle the slaver of their mouths, and breathe
Into each other, pressing teeth on mouths -
Yet to no purpose, since they're powerless
To rub off aught, or penetrate and pass
With body entire into body"[2]

The search for remedy to this frustration only increases it. Instead of modifying the quality of the act, the quantity is increased, moving from one partner to another. This is how God's gift of sexuality is ruined, in the trend of culture and society today.

As Christians, do we want to find an explanation once and for all for this devastating dysfunction? The explanation is that sexual union is not lived in the way and with the purpose in which God intended it. The purpose was, through this ecstasy and fusion of love, that man and woman would be elevated to the desire and have a certain taste for infinite love. They would remember from whence they came and where they were going.

Sin, beginning with the biblical sin of Adam and Eve, has gutted this plan; it has "profaned" this gesture, in other words, it has stripped it of its religious value. It has turned it into a gesture that is an end in itself, which finishes with itself, and is therefore "unsatisfactory." The symbol has been separated from the reality it symbolizes, bereft of its intrinsic dynamism and therefore mutilated. Never as much as in this case is St. Augustine's saying true: "You made us, Lord, for you and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

Even couples that are believers, sometimes more than others, don't come to find this richness of the initial meaning of sexual union due to the idea of concupiscence and original sin associated with the act for so many centuries. Only in the witness of some couples that have had a renewing experience of the Holy Spirit and that live Christian life charismatically do we find something of that original meaning of the conjugal act. They have confided with wonder, to friends or a priest, that they unite praising God out loud, and even singing in tongues. It was a real experience of God's presence.

It is understandable why it is only possible to find this fullness of the marital vocation in the Holy Spirit. The constitutive act of marriage is reciprocal self-giving, making a gift of one's own body to the spouse (or, in the words of the Bible, of one's whole self). In being the sacrament of the gift, marriage is, by its nature, a sacrament that is open to the action of the Holy Spirit, who is the Gift par excellence, or better said, the reciprocal self-giving of the Father and the Son. It is the sanctifying presence of the Spirit that makes marriage not only a celebrated sacrament, but a lived sacrament.

The secret to getting access to these splendors of Christian love is to give Christ space within the life of the couple. In fact, the Holy Spirit that makes all things new, comes from him. A book by Fulton Sheen, popular in the 50s, reiterated this with its title: "Three to Get Married."[3]

We should not be afraid of proposing a very high goal to some especially prepared couples, who will be future Christian spouses: that of praying a while the wedding night, as Tobias and Sarah, and afterward giving God the Father the joy of seeing his initial plan realized anew, thanks to Christ, when Adam and Eve were nude in front of each other and both in front of God and they were not ashamed.

I end with some words taken once again from "The Satin Slipper" by Claudel. It is a dialogue between the woman of the drama and her guardian angel. The woman struggles between her fear and the desire to surrender herself to love:

- So, is this love of the creatures, one for another, allowed? Isn't God jealous?
- How could He be jealous of what He Himself made?
- But man, in the arms of the woman, forgets God...
- Can they forget Him when they are with Him, participating in the mystery of his creation?[4]

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[1] Cf. Cf. H. Mühlen, Der Heilige Geist als Person. Ich -Du -Wir, Muenster, in W. 1966.
[2] Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV,2 vv. 1104-1107.
[3] F. Sheen, Three to Get Married, Appleton-Century-Crofts 1951.

[4] P. Claudel, Le soulier de satin, a.III. sc.8 (éd. La Pléiade, II, Paris 1956, pp. 804):
- Dona Prouhèze. - -Eh quoi! Ainsi c'était permis? cet amour des créatures l'une pour l'autre, il est donc vrai que Dieu n'est pas jaloux ?
- L'Ange Gardien.- Comment serait-il jaloux de ce qu'il a fait ?...
- Dona Prouhèze. - L'homme entre les bras de la femme oublie Dieu.
- L'Ange Gardien.- Est-ce l'oublier que d'être avec lui ? est-ce ailleurs qu'avec lui d'être associé au mystère da sa création ?

[Translation by Thomas Daly]

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Full text of address: http://www.zenit.org/article-24868?l=english

Poverty, Chastity and Obedience

H/t to Fr. Blake

"Feeding Body and Soul in the South Bronx"

From The New York Times

By Mathew R. Warren

Photos by Christian Hansen

Click HERE to go to the NYTimes story to see a good video about the CFR's

Hearing a knock at the door, Brother Nicholas White peeked through a small cross-shaped window and opened the door at St. Crispin’s Friary in the South Bronx. On the steps outside, a man stood and asked for a blessing. Without hesitating, Brother Nicholas put his hand on the man’s shoulder, closed his eyes and prayed with him.

The man, Wilbert Barber, who has been a frequent visitor, had been homeless until recently and was now in an apartment paid for with public assistance. “I needed prayer, I needed God’s protection,” said Mr. Barber, 48. “I can’t make it without God.”

Nourishment, spiritual and material, is something that the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal have been dispensing since 1987 when a group of friars started the religious community in the South Bronx to serve neighborhoods with a variety of problems.

The order has grown steadily, attracting men from across the country willing to give up material possessions and devote their lives to prayer and charity. The order now has 120 friars and 14 friaries worldwide.

Brother Nicholas, 32, is from Ohio, and has been in the South Bronx for more than a year. He has a close-cropped head and a red beard, and wears a gray robe with a hood, sandals and a wooden cross attached to rosary beads that hang from a rope tied around his waist.

The friars, who take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, spend four to five hours a day praying and most of the rest of their time trying to help the poor. They depend almost entirely on donations to support themselves and their charities, which include a homeless shelter, a youth center and food handouts.

Brother Nicholas was working as an audio engineer when he went through what he described as a religious conversion, a calling to a devout life. While doing research on the Internet he came across the Web site of the Friars of the Renewal.

“I saw a picture of a friar in a beard with his habit on and his hood up and bare feet, sitting on the floor praying the rosary, and I was like: you mean to tell me people are actually doing that?” Brother Nicholas said.

“I was floored,” he added. “I recognized an authenticity that here was a group of men that desired to live the Gospel and nothing more.”

Every brother at St. Crispin’s has his own small room, sparsely furnished with a chair and a desk and a thin mat on the floor on which they sleep. Some keep books or musical instruments, but they have no televisions, cellphones or computers.

“It’s funny that we have all this communication and media that are good and could be used for much good, but somehow there’s a lack of communication still,” said Brother Juanmaria Arroyo Acevedo, who at 24 is the youngest friar at St. Crispin’s.

For Brother Paolo Kim, 25, who arrived from California three years ago, becoming a friar gave him a different view of the city than most people his age ever have. (The friary is at 420 East 156th Street, between Melrose and Elton Avenues.)

“Being a friar allows us to experience what it’s like to live a life that is less distracted than the contemporary lifestyle that most young people, especially in New York City, would experience on a day-to-day basis,” Brother Paolo said.

The combination of living with the bare minimum and working with an impoverished community is what draws many of the friars to New York.

“I felt that this is what fulfills my life, this is what gives it meaning,” Brother Juanmaria said. “When I put whatever talents that I have in the service of other people, then I feel useful, that I have dignity.”

Every week the friars visit the homes of people who have asked for help with food. Beyond distributing the food, their purpose is to establish a relationship and to offer friendship and counsel.

Brother Juanmaria visited recently with Maria Quiñones, 82, who lives at the Jackson Houses, a project within walking distance of St. Crispin’s.

“When somebody visits you in your home, it makes you feel good,” Ms. Quiñones said, as she showed Brother Juanmaria photos of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren while her two parakeets, Nene and Chula, chirped away in their cage.

“The friars do a lot of good things for us,” said Ms. Quiñones, who has received food from the brothers for more than 10 years.

While their charity work has made them feel welcome in the neighborhood, many of the friars still have some difficulty adjusting to the area.

“I’m from the northeast coast of Puerto Rico, where you can see a beautiful beach in my backyard,” Brother Juanmaria said. “Coming up here, you’re stuck in between buildings and traffic.”

He joked that every winter he experiences a “vocational crisis.”

The oldest and longest-serving resident at St. Crispin’s, the Rev. Rich Roemer, 39, who grew up in Wisconsin, said he certainly felt out of place when he first arrived in 1990. He remembers a friar telling him people would assume that he was a cop because young white men were not common in the South Bronx.

“That sort of tipped me off that I wasn’t in the Midwest anymore,” said Father Rich, whose curly brown beard reaches below his collarbone. “I suppose I was a bit fearful in some ways, but it turned out to be really a great blessing.”

Father Rich took final vows and became a priest 13 years ago. Brothers and priests take the same vows though the brothers cannot perform sacraments because they are not ordained.

“Early on, definitely it was the decision to live a life of chastity, not to get married, is the big hurdle to making a decision to enter this life,” Father Rich said. “As time goes on there’s still a natural struggle that goes on with that, but also in some ways the vow of obedience becomes more difficult. You try to surrender your plans, your time, where you are going to live.”

“This is a radical investment in the afterlife,” he added.

Father Rich recalled that when he was 23, a reporter talked with him for an article about St. Crispin’s and its relationship with the tenants of a neighboring building.

“There’s a new door on it, but other than that I think it’s pretty much the same,” Father Rich said of the building, whose tenants still struggle with poverty. “Some families still get help from us with food.”

Brother Nicholas said he intended to take his final vows and stay on at St. Crispin’s. “Those are my plans,” he said, “to commit to this way of life for the rest of my life.”

"A Prayerful Advocate"

From Catholic New York
By JOHN WOODS

Like many of you, I occasionally ask someone to keep me or a member of my family in their prayers. And when someone makes a similar request of me, I take it seriously.

This week, I made such a request of someone the first time I spoke to her, and I have a good hunch that she'll follow through.

Her name is Jenna Marie Cooper. She is 23 years old and a graduate student in theology at Ave Maria University in Florida. On Saturday, Jan. 3, she will be consecrated to a life of virginity at an 11:30 a.m. Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Newburgh to be celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Dominick J. Lagonegro, co-vicar for Orange County and pastor of Sacred Heart.

As a consecrated virgin, the oldest form of consecrated life in the Church, Ms. Cooper will spend much of her time in prayer. (A Vatican II document called for a revision and revival of the Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity for Women Living in the World, restoring the ancient vocation in the life of the modern Church.) It will not be a great departure from her current daily life, which includes praying the Liturgy of the Hours five times, attending Mass and spending other time in prayer.

Chief among her intentions are the Church and people of New York. Cardinal Egan granted permission for Ms. Cooper to be consecrated and she will remain directly under his authority as Archbishop of New York.

She said she felt privileged to be invited to attend the Mass for clergy and religious that Pope Benedict XVI celebrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral in April. "That was such a wonderful and awesome experience. I couldn't talk about anything else for a week afterward," she said.

When the Holy Father thanked those present for their prayers on his behalf, it made a firm impression on her. "That sense that prayers were needed and appreciated was very meaningful to me," she said.

She will be the youngest person in the United States living as a consecrated virgin, and one of four active in the archdiocese, according to Father Bartholomew Daly, M.H.M., who as co-vicar for religious is in charge of their oversight and meets with them regularly.

During our phone interview, Ms. Cooper said she had felt a religious calling since she was about 12. She is part of a devout Catholic family that includes her parents, Douglas and Judith, and two younger siblings, Joseph and Tess. They are parishioners of St. Thomas of Canterbury parish in Cornwall-on-Hudson. She assumed that she would eventually join a religious congregation. She met with several during her undergraduate days (she holds a bachelor's in philosophy from Seton Hall University), but didn't feel like that was the right choice for her. Still, she continued to feel a call to serve the Church in a special way.

In 2004 she met Father Luke Sweeney, now the vocation director for the archdiocese who was then serving at Sacred Heart in Newburgh, where Ms. Cooper at times attends Mass. He gave her information about different religious orders and showed her a copy of the rite for consecrated virgins. She said that she was familiar with the lives of some of the consecrated virgins of the early Church, including some who were martyred for their faith.

"The courage they had to live a Christian life in such a hostile culture made me realize what a foundation they were for the Church," she said. "I wanted to be able to imitate that courage and love in my own life."

Eventually Father Sweeney arranged for her to meet with Father Daly. Last year, she began meeting with him on a more regular basis in pursuing her vocation. She had to formally request Cardinal Egan's permission for her consecration, which was given shortly before the papal Mass.

The prayer request I made of Ms. Cooper was for Catholic New York and its readers. It's only fair that we return the favor as she enters consecrated life.

The Little Brothers of St. Francis, Boston

Visit the Little Brothers of St. Francis website HERE.

H/t to Don Gelinas

"Four ordained as church's 'servant ministers'"

From the Catholic Sentinel
By Ed Langlois

Mike Caldwell, Tim Dooley, Dennis Desmarais and David Briedwell at ordination.
Sentinel photo by Kim Nguyen
David Briedwell, a firefighter and paramedic, joined the Catholic Church in 1990. On a Marriage Encounter weekend, he felt grabbed. Before he knew it, he was telling others on the weekend that he was going to become Catholic, joining his wife Sally Marie in her faith.

He started out as a member of St. James Parish in his home town of McMinnville. Like some new Catholics, he drifted away from practicing his faith for awhile. When he returned, he felt welcomed with open arms. That started something.
He offered to mow the lawn at Good Shepherd Church in nearby Sheridan. Pretty soon, he was also counting the weekend collection and doing other jobs. When the priest was reassigned and it appeared no other was coming soon, the clergyman handed the church keys to Briedwell. Eventually, he began serving as a lector, eucharistic minister, sacristan and pastoral associate in Sheridan and Grand Ronde. Then he was named pastoral administrator. On Saturday, Briedwell became a deacon of the church, bound to serve the needy, preach the word and lead sacraments.

“You have to have people praying for you to do this,” says the father of two, citing great support from family and friends.

Briedwell was one of four men ordained as permanent deacons at St. Mary Cathedral. The others are Mike Caldwell, Dennis Desmarais, and Tim Dooley.

The permanent diaconate was revived by the Second Vatican Council. In the U.S., there were only 500 or 600 deacons in the 1970s. There are more than 17,000 now.

In Oregon, 64 permanent deacons visit the sick and prisoners and provide food, clothing and other assistance to needy Oregonians. They help prepare young couples for marriage and instruct those hoping to become Catholic.

The ministry of a deacon is primarily one of service and charity. Deacons are ministers of the word, which means they can proclaim the gospel at Mass, preach and teach in the name of the church. Their sacramental ministry includes baptizing, conducting prayer services, serving as an official church witness to marriage and conducting funerals and wake services.

Archbishop John Vlazny thanked the men and their wives for their willingness to play a role as “servant ministers” in the church’s evangelizing mission.

“First and foremost we ourselves must be men of prayer, integrity, generosity and compassion,” Archbishop Vlazny told the new deacons, offering that as an antidote to “bland Christianity” and “darkened spirits” in the world.

“The extent of the spirituality and generosity of deacons and their wives is reflected over and over again in the way they live their lives together with their families and through their service to the people of God, especially the poor and needy,” the archbishop said.

“I remind you that your presence at the altar is not truly meaningful unless it is complemented by your daily concern for the marginalized, uncatechized and alienated sisters and brothers in our church families,” he added. “Otherwise you will be merely glorified altar servers and that is not the kind of partnership the bishops had in mind four decades ago when they reestablished the order of deacon.”

Caldwell, who already serves as a business manager at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Southeast Portland, says bookkeeping did not seem like enough. He felt called to direct work in service of the gospel. He began a social justice group at the parish and has tackled issues like immigration and pro-life advocacy. He also is planning a project of charity help to needy families. Caldwell and his wife Linda have three children.

About a decade ago, Desmarais felt called to something. He was not sure what. The PacifiCorp employee got involved at St. Pius X Parish and grew especially interested in social justice ministry. He went with a group to a camp of migrant workers, and joined the Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good, a group of churches and unions seeking just public policy. He went on mission trips to Mexico, attended retreats on poverty at the Downtown Chapel and began youth groups at St. Pius X Parish and then at St. Juan Diego when it began.

One day, he was talking to two permanent deacons, Bob Little and Jésus Espinoza. Espinoza suggested he look into becoming a deacon and kept raising the idea over time. Desmarais decided to give it a try. He reveled in master’s studies through the University of Portland and felt that work affirmed his decision. He and his wife Marci have three children.

Until five years ago, Dooley never gave thought to becoming a deacon. Now, everything about it feels like his calling.

“I thought that I had my path pretty well charted out, and the last thing I wanted to do was go back to school,” he says. “But there’s no stopping the Holy Spirit once we open the door.”

His pastor at Holy Family Parish in Portland, Father Bob Barricks, planted the seed one night at dinner when he asked Dooley if he’d consider becoming a deacon. Dooley was surprised by the request, but the idea stuck. He brought it up to his wife LeAnn and shared his worry that it might reduce his time with her. She advised him to forge ahead and has supported him in the process ever since.

“I’ll aways remember that my vows as a deacon are binding, but my vows to LeAnn came first,” he says.

Father Barricks recently told parishioners that Dooley’s ministry “springs” from his marriage to the wider community.

Dooley and LeAnn have two daughters. He has served as a eucharistic minister at Providence Portland Medical Center and in homebound ministry at his church. He works for Oregon Catholic Press, publisher of this newspaper.

Great vocations news from the Salesians

Fr. Steve Leake, SDB sends word of good vocations news for the Salesians:

"We had 2 Salesians make Final Vows this year and 2 first professions. Also we are able to celebrate 19 men in our house of initial formation! Also, we have 2 men in our province Novitiate as well. Let's pray that we can continue to see such good news! Worldwide I think the Salesian Congregation has 500 novices... while we are not that full yet... we are still happy with our number here in the States. The Vietnamese Salesian province has 36 novices this year! God is really so good to us."

Please visit the links above to read posts about the brothers making final vows and first professions.

Archbishop Chaput recalls men and women religious to obedience

I think His Excellency was trying to make a point about...obedience.

Remarks of Archbishop Charles Chaput at the 2008 LCWR-CMSM Assembly (Leadership Conference of Women Religious -Conference of Major Superiors of Men)

Pictures and other speeches from the assembly can be found HERE. (If you are looking for pictures of religious in habits, this won't be the link to visit)

August 1, 2008
Denver, Colorado

Thank you for the invitation to address your meeting. I want to begin by welcoming you to Denver -- both as a fellow religious, and as a bishop.

Being a Capuchin and being a bishop is an unusual combination. Many people enter religious life for a radical experience of the Gospel, and one of the reasons they sometimes do this is to avoid the institutional frustrations that can go with diocesan life.

When I became a capuchin, I would never have expected to be here today as a bishop. I got here, frankly, for one extraordinary reason. The Holy See decided it needed a Native American to be a bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, because a large percentage of the Catholics there are Native American. I’m very blessed to be a Potawatomi Indian, and that’s why I went to Rapid City, out of love and in obedience. Now I’m the Archbishop of Denver. I know that I am also here because of love and obedience.

All of us who are religious share that same commitment to love and obedience – love FOR and obedience TO Jesus Christ, to the Church and to her pastors. Charles de Foucauld called obedience the “yardstick of love.” It’s a clear way we measure the fidelity and unselfishness of our hearts. I do not think it’s an accident that John XXIII had the words, “Obedience and Peace” as his papal motto. The Church belongs to Christ, the Church is His spouse and we find His peace through love and obedience to His Church, which is finally not an institution or corporation or bureaucracy, but our mother and teacher.

I’ve experienced authority in the Church both as a Capuchin major superior and now as a bishop. I know very well the frustrations good people sometimes suffer at the hands of leaders who are made of clay.

Nevertheless, St. Francis and St. Ignatius and many other founders had a common experience: For them, obedience was that “yardstick of love.” The kind of radical love expressed in obedience – an obedience that can make our hearts ache and bruise our vanity – is the seed of renewal in every age of the Church. I entered religious life because I wanted to be one of those seeds, because I knew my own happiness depended on it. I am sure you want to be those seeds of renewal too.

The theme of this meeting is “On This Holy Mountain.” As I was thinking about that theme, my mind turned to the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration showed the Apostles and us that Jesus is not merely a great teacher or wise thinker or brave leader. He is our Lord and God. So Christian discipleship and consecrated life demand more than a polite relationship with Jesus and His Church. Christ does ask for our approval or agreement. He doesn’t need either. Instead, He asks us to follow him – radically, with all we have, and without exceptions or reservations. What he deserves is our love – a love that is expressed in our worship, in our service to others and in our obedience to the Church.

On the Holy Mountain of the Transfiguration, a bright cloud cast a shadow over Jesus and his disciples and the voice of God said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him,” which could just as accurately be translated, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; obey Him.”

We religious are women and men who consecrate ourselves to God through poverty, chastity, and obedience. All the vows are important. Poverty is about things outside ourselves. Chastity is chiefly about things within us. But obedience is about everything, within and without. It is truly “the yardstick of love.”

My God grant you all a time of refreshment, friendship and peace in your meeting, and thank you for coming to Colorado.


Text of greeting originally posted here.

A New Consecrated Virgin in the Diocese of Richmond

The following story is a slight reworking of the original UPI story:

For the first time in its 188 year history, a young Virginia woman has made her vows as a consecrated , perpetual virgin in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond.

Bernadette Snyder, 29, made her vows before Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo in the rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity of Women Living in the World, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday.

As a part of the ceremony in May, Bishop DiLorenzo gave her a gold band as a symbol of her spousal relationship with Jesus Christ.

"He completes me," Snyder told the newspaper. "I don't even know if marriage is the proper term; I feel like he's my husband."

According to the article, the rite fell into disuse by the eighth or ninth century. The Vatican restored it in 1970.

The U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins estimates there are 200 consecrated virgins nationwide. Most of those consecrations have come in the last decade, said Judith Stegman, the group's president.

"Reflections on Receiving the Holy Habit"

The post below is from the Carmelite Sisters blog - the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.

By: Sister Mary Louise, O.C.D.

Wedding dresses, graduation gowns, first communion clothing, prom gowns, these are all familiar these types of clothing as are the special celebrations for which they are worn. They help mark significant moments in life. Worn for a few hours, they are then packed away as precious reminders of an event that has passed. Last Sunday, March 16, three young women were clothed in beautiful garments as a way of marking a certain moment in their lives. The difference was that after a few hours these "gowns" were not packed away. But early Monday morning the young women again put them on.. and again Tuesday morning... and Wednesday...and they will continue to wear them for the rest of their lives. This is because we are not talking about satin and silk but the holy habit of Carmel.

What is the significance of the clothing that we as Carmelites wear? What does it mean to be clothed in the garment of our Immaculate Mother? The answer was clear in the Sacred Heart Chapel on Palm Sunday: conversion. But it wasn't so much that a message was preached, as that a conviction shared in a radical way by each sister was expressed verbally. It was a tangible experience of the presence of sisters who have persevered to the end in the life long struggle of conversion, of sisters with whom we have made it through another day, as well as sisters with arms outstretched eager to begin a life of continual striving for the perfection of charity. They have been approved to make their first vows and in a few months they will commit themselves to our way of life. Now their outward appearance matches the interior reality. Because as we greeted and congratulated the three brides-to-be, the radiant smiles on their faces bore witness to the treasure we have in our community: union in Christ. It was truly their special day, but I think each of us and all of us together took yet one more step closer to our Divine Bridegroom, led by the guiding hand of His Mother, the Queen and Beauty of Carmel. We congratulate Sister Maralisa, Sister Julianna, and Sister Marie Rachel. We congratulate you and we love you, our dear sisters!

Prayer Request

Brother Gabriel Myriam Kurzawski, O.S.B., who works with Father Fred Byrne, O.S.B. in the St. Vincent Archabbey Vocation Office (Br. Gabriel is the blogger for their excellent vocations blog)contacted me to see if the readers of this blog could offer up at least one extra Hail Mary in their prayers for a few special intentions.

This Thursday, July 10th and Friday, July 11th, 2008 (the Feast of St. Benedict) the monks will have some very important events in the life of the Archabbey as 5 men (ages 22, 23, 33, 34, 39) will be invested in the Holy Habit and begin their year long Novitiate, 4 Novices (ages 23, 23, 34, 51) will profess first vows, and 2 monks will profess solemn vows.

I have confidence in that the prayerful generosity of this vocations "community" and know that we can gratefully storm heaven on behalf of these men.

The picture to the left is of the four novices, including Br. Gabriel, from left to right: Br. Maximilian Maxwell, OSB, Br. Jeremiah Lange, OSB, Fr. Sebastian Samay, OSB (Novice Master), Br. Gabriel Myriam Kurzawski, OSB, and Br. Michael Antonacci, OSB.

Br. Gabriel also sent me this great picture which (I assume) he took of his brother novices with the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal at St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie during Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI's visit. More proof that young, joyful, and faithful men and women are indeed answering God's call. Deo Gratias! Please remember them in your prayers.

"Vatican congregation calls religious to obedience"

From the Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, May 28, 2008 / 10:40 am (CNA).- The congregation charged with overseeing religious men and women has published an instruction to help improve the understanding of the roles of authority and obedience in religious communities.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life today released an Instruction entitled: "The Service of Authority and Obedience," which was presented this morning at an assembly of male and female superiors general held at the Salesianum in Rome.

The first topic that the new instruction addresses is religious obedience.

While some think of religious obedience as simply an adherence to “ecclesiastical or religious laws and rulings,” the congregation explains that this is not how it should be understood. Rather, religious obedience has its roots in the “search for God and for His will.” It springs from the “momentum of a journey in search of God which involves listening to His Word and becoming aware of His design of love - the fundamental experience of Christ Who, out of love, was obedient unto His death on the cross.”

The practical outcome of this is that, obedience, “is not justified on the basis of religious authority.” Instead, “because everyone in a religious community (first and foremost the authorities themselves) are called to obedience, Authority places itself at the service on the community so that God's will may be sought and achieved together."

The parallel issue of religious authority must be seen in the context of the “shared commitment to obedience, ... the theme that opens and closes this document," an explanation of the instruction says.

How to respond in matters of “difficult obedience” is also addressed by the document. The congregation describes these instances of “difficult obedience” as instructions that are “particularly hard to carry out, or in which the subject feels he sees 'things which are better and more useful for his soul than those which the superior orders him to do'.”

Room is also made for situations in which the one who must obey has 'objections of conscience.' This reference is meant to help people “consider obedience not just as a passive and irresponsible execution of orders, but as a conscious shouldering of commitments ... which are a real actuation of the will of God," a press release explains.

"The Instruction seeks to recall, above all, that obedience in religious life can give rise to difficult moments, to situations of suffering in which it is necessary to refer back to the Obedient One par excellence, Christ.”

However, those in authority can also experience “difficult” moments, the instruction notes. They can experience “moments of discouragement and fatigue which can lead to resignation or inattention in exercising an appropriate guidance ... of the community."

The document also contains “a vast and coherent set of guidelines for the exercise of authority," such as "inviting people to listen, favoring dialogue, sharing, co-responsibility, ... and the merciful treatment of the people" of those under authority.

An explanation of the instruction concludes by saying that the religious community should be “a place in which, under the guidance of the superior, a form of 'community discernment' must be exercised in decision- making. This practice, for the implementation of which important suggestions are offered, does not however eliminate the role of authority ... And it must not be forgotten that, by ancient tradition, the highest authority within religious institutes resides in the general chapter (or similar institution), which is a collegial body."

READ FULL DOCUMENT HERE.